This disclosure generally relates to determining that mobile devices and content devices are connected to the same local networks, and to providing customized content to these devices.
Users of an online system view and interact with content presented on their mobile devices such as smartphones. Since smartphones are typically personal devices, the online system may customize the content provided to the smartphones. In other words, based on user-specific information received from a personal mobile device, the online system may determine content items likely to be interesting to a particular user. However, the number of electronic devices that users can use to access online content has been increasing. For instance, in addition to smartphone type mobile devices, users have smart TVs, set-top boxes, or other types of content devices that provide digital media. In contrast to smartphones, smart TVs and set-top boxes may not be personal devices, e.g., multiple users in a household may use the same smart TV, and the users may not need to log in to an account on a content device as they would for applications on a smartphone. Thus, conventional systems are unable to provide customized content to these non-personal content devices. It is challenging and desirable for an online system to determine which specific users are using a content device, so that the online system can personalize the content presented to the users.